AI-powered camera traps are being used for more than just documenting and monitoring animals -- they have also been a crucial tool in protecting the local wildlife from poachers, such is the case in Gabon in Central Africa. Congo, and Congo Basin, in particular, offer incredible biodiversity with roughly 400 species of mammals and 1,000 species of birds that reside in the largest area of forest preserve -- 80% of Gabon is covered in forests -- out of all African nations, reports Appsilon. Out of these diverse species are endangered wildlife -- elephants, bonobos, lowland gorillas, and chimpanzees, which are at the forefront of the country's so-called "Green Gabon" movement. It seeks to develop sustainable logging while preserving wildlife, with the help of various tracking systems using satellite imagery as well as camera traps on the ground. To help maintain Gabon's biodiversity, researchers from the University of Stirling in the United Kingdom have begun using a new kind of camera trap.

As we have announced recently, Appsilon Data Science's AI for Good initiative is working together with biodiversity conservationists at the National Parks Agency in Gabon and in collaboration with experts from the University of Stirling. Part of our role in the project is to develop an image classification algorithm capable of classifying wildlife seen in images taken by camera traps located in the forests of Gabon. The project has received support from the Google for Education fund which allowed us to embark on this journey with the immense power of the latest computational resources at hand. Below are some interesting findings we made so far. Stay tuned for more news on the progress! We have recently participated (and taken the 5th place out of 811 participants) in the Hakuna Ma-data competition, in which we classified images of wildlife from the savannahs of Serengeti.

This fall, Gabon was facing an odd and tenuous political situation. President Ali Bongo had been out of the country since October receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia and London and had not been seen in public. People in Gabon and observers outside the country were growing suspicious about the president's well being, and the government's lack of answers only fueled doubts; some even said he was dead. After months of little information, on December 9th, the country's vice president announced that Bongo had suffered a stroke in the autumn, but remained in good shape. Despite such assurances, civil society groups and many members of the public wondered why Bongo, if he was well, had not made any public appearances, save for a few pictures of him released by the government along with a silent video.